My Totally Bad-Ass New Outdoor Skill

As I have said many times before, or should I say given the excuse many times before, this year is the year of the house. That means our poor neglected lawn is well, poor and neglected as supposedly next year is the year of the lawn. Alas, this does not work out entirely well in the long run and therefore the time came to tackle the weed garden (weed as in big ugly things that invade my gardens, not drugs, we don't do drugs in this house, or ANY house for that matter. So get your mind out of the gutter and move along) and with MB working on the patio and the Fall weather I enjoy so much making it's first appearance, it seemed a good enough time as any to direct my energy to the outside.

It may have been a long weekend but it might as well have been a one day weekend. After spending our ENTIRE day on Saturday driving to West Springfield over an hour away and buying me a car finally, MB went off to obligatory Bachelor party while I hosted my two partners in crime, Jackie J and Mary K. As soon as they found out what car I ended up with (an '08 Scion) they tried to kick me out of the car (we were on our way to the store for champagne and the ever important junk food). I'm still not sure what Jackie's issue with this was but Mary was insulted because she expected me to get a Corolla like her. Ever after I explained that Toyota MAKES Scions and I NEED a hatchback, she was still upset but I made them get over by saying that if that was the way they felt they were banished from ever riding in it and they got over it quickly.

MB reappeared on Sunday, less than phoenix-like around 1:30pm and immediately declared he was taking a nap...he did not so much as stir until 3:30pm. Needless to say that day was shot.

This left Monday and we had a lot to do in this amount of time. I had at least spent a productive day Sunday cleaning the house and doing laundry but MB was now behind on his patio progress. He proposed ME mowing the lawn over breakfast. I have never mowed the lawn. He tells me it's easy. Now let me just defend myself here by saying it's not that I ever had anything against mowing the lawn at my parents house, but my dad only let me use the ride on mower for hauling logs and brush with the trailer. My parent's yard is much more vast then even ours and my dad for some reason felt that I would roll the tractor and therefore, did it himself.

MB started by mowing the front lawn and I began tackling the weed garden. My poor hill garden that we dug up months ago had now been completely taken over by giant things posing as grass but that are really weeds. I pulled and yanked until you could actually see the few bushes and plants I had planted and ALL the weeds were annihilated. About this time MB got a call from his brother and MB informed me that S&S (his brother and his brother's girlfriend), would be coming to deliver a patio umbrella to us. A generous hand me down from MB's parents. I continued my war against the weeds to our other gardens an MB took off to get some tool. After chatting with S&S for a few minutes I convinced MB to come to Bemis Farm with me. He had noted that they were having a huge "yard sale" and said we should check it out. With tress and bushes %75 off I agreed.

We ended up FILLING the back of my car (soon to be gone Mazda Tribute) for under $100. We got 2 arborvitaes for the edges of the patio, a gorgeous small leaf rhododendron (there was no price on it so they gave it it up for $10!!), a few smaller perennials, small mums for $2 a pop and 2 small strawberry pots for $4 a pop. As well as more than satisfactory replacement for all my indoor herbs that died (see right) and a new rosemary plant simply because, we are very found of rosemary.

All told it was very productive. After I deposited the new perennials in the newly cleared hill garden it was no longer avoidable, I needed to learn how to mow the lawn. I was so nervous I would do this wrong but MB gave me a crash course. Sure enough I was very hesitant to start but I quickly got the hang of it and began mowing in a large sort of circle, square working from the outside in as I had seen my father do a million times. When I was done I was obnoxiously proud of my totally new bad ass skill. Is there anything I can't do? Oh yes plenty but we won't go telling my ego that.

All told the yard isn't looking too shabby. I'm going to have to keep up with it more frequently but hopefully by the time the patio is ready for it's big reveal I'll have the rest of the yard in great shape. I tend to shy away from yard work in the summer because I hate the heat. However, when the air starts to change and get cool and crisp as it did this weekend, there aren't many other places I'd rather be!

The Hole for the Patio & the Blue Bedroom

I would like to preface this blog with one comment directed at my "brother in law": No, I did NOT paint the bedrooms for children. There will be more about my 'child' dread later but moving on...

So this was a busy weekend! Saturday morning we woke up a bit late and groggy. MB headed right over to his friends NA's house to help him move some things in exchange for NA's help with the patio. Me? I ate a slice of cold pizza and started out painting the spare bedroom the lovely blue you see here. "Russian Blue", our only none food titled paint. However, we are fairly convinced our cat Lulu is part Russian Blue so we chose it partly in honor of her. I had it done in pretty much no time but somehow managed to get a good smear of paint on my leg and my arm. A fact I neglected to fix before putting on a knee length dress and heading out in the world to do a million errands. No wonder I got odd looks.

My plan was this: I needed to stop by Wings Over Worcester to pick up a gift card they had generously donated to the blood donor center (where I work). I knew NA and MB would be hard at work digging out the patio so I thought I would get a gaggle of different types of wings to try and feed them to the boys for lunch. OK, no biggy. HOWEVER, first I needed to make at pit stop and Babies R US first and get a baby shower gift. There will be separate blog about this later but this took me longer than I expected. MB called me while I was out and told me he had decided to invite our friends over. Okk. Now I had invited NA's new wife Jen over and their adorable 2 year old but MB added to the mix with his 'girlfriend' AC and his fiance Ashley (note here that we are one of the few left of our friends who are not engaged or married. They are dropping like flies let me tell you). That was great except that I had not idea what we were going to serve them and I still needed to clean the house. Now I was in a rush.

I got back with my loot to find MB's brother had stopped by on his motorcycle to check out the progress. It was at least 2:30pm by the time I got back and MB and NA had sure been hard at work, they nearly had the thing done! Funny thing is, after I fed them lunch and MB and I settled on smoking some beef ribs for everyone, they asked my option on the shape of the patio.

Now we know how this always goes. I get asked, they say no, they do what they were going to do ANYWAYS, and I throw my hands up in the air. More or less. Now I believe the original plan had been to make the whole thing a rectangle. Then the back was formed into a semi circle and the flat part was to be square. Well I pointed this out as they had it mapped for a round patio and I was told that left no room for the mower. OK. I said it was too small and it looked kinda weird. Why can't you make it an OVAL instead? Well then I got another lecture on the mower not fitting and when I said it would be too crowded they said well you don't want it too spread out and proceeded to move the patio table onto the spot to prove this. I was unconvinced so I gave up and walked away.

I got back after running all over creation to gather sustenance and spirits for our little gathering, then managed to do what little ladies do best: multitasking. I cleaned while I cooked and cooked while I cleaned. By the time I was done, I still hadn't gotten a change to shower but I was presentable (minus the paint smears) and so was the house.

MB and NA continued to work pretty much up until we ate and low and behold they had the entire thing dug! They had done a great job and I was thoroughly impressed. The boys went elsewhere to clean up for dinner while Jen, Ashley and I stood and stared at the hole. "It's too small." "Yup it's definitely too small." God I love girls :) they saw it the same as I did. It would be too crowded, especially since there would be a big wall in the back and a fire pit built into it. You don't want to sit too close to a fire. Boys just don't get it sometimes. Ashley just smiled and said "you know what, that's fine, let him realize he was wrong and then you'll be right." Exactly. ;) The way I see it and we discussed this, was that the wall would be be built first. If, once that is done, it's deemed too small, it can be expanded. It is very nice and round but I think it would look better an oval but hey, it still looks great.

We moved the patio furniture back onto our dirt patio and had dinner there and then went to our present fire pit way up in the back yard by the woods and s'mores. It was a great time but I can't wait until the patio is done and usable and we can make our s'more right out the front door!

Sunday was incredibly lazy. I got almost no sleep the night before, was up very early and then finally poked MB around 10am to please, please , please make me homefries! I spent the whole day in a half awake daze as we lay around watching the food network and doing not much of anything. This is very difficult for us. Even when we are tired/hung over and it's raining, we STILL feel the need to do something. We researched anything to do, ended up driving out to Amherst for the hell of it, spent about 20 minutes walking around ( I had wanted to go to the Yankee Candle Village and make candles but I got shut down. humph.) then went to where we REALLY wanted to and trotted over to mecca: Whole Foods. It was a good day but we got absolutely nothing done. I think our Saturday was busy enough to make up for it though.

In-Development & a psychology lesson about boys' minds

We are now in the middle of a planning bonanza. MB has been using up vacation time a few days at a time and making vast strides in his efforts.

The plan for the weekend is finish the closets. Very important. It will be so lovely to hang my clothes where they belong! Yippee! Also, I'm going to finish the second coat of "cinnamon stick" in the office so that we can move things in and get them out of the basement!

On the "cleaning out the basement" front there is also the beloved switch to natural gas. MB had the trusted family plumber come check out the house today and he told us about this AWESOME heater that, well it's not just tankless it's condensation using? I don't know, I'm not positive what to call it but it's soo cool! I'm in love already. It super efficient and doesn't take up much room and you never run out of hot water! Great for my legendary hour long showers (hey, I'm a Pisces, I love water, nothing I can do about it). Here's the link if your interesting in bringing a little awesome into your life as well. http://www.navienamerica.com/rearning/tank.aspx?skin=tank

Any-who, that should all go down pretty soon. They need to run the gas line up to our house first (there is middle school down the street so luckily we have gas on our road) and then when we are almost out of oil, MB and his uncle are going to cut the tank in half, rip it out and get the stupid behemoth out of there! That leaves a nice big space in our basement although our cat Finella will probably be upset as she has taken to napping on top of it. Cats are so bizarre.

ELSEWHERE, MB parents dropped off our Christmas present a few (5) months early. Some friends of theirs were selling a very nice metal patio set and they got it for us! It's very nice but now it's just sitting in our yard looking a bit odd and lonely. This means MB's patio plan has been kicked into high gear. Today he went and scoped out some stones and there have been catalogues at our house for a week now. He wants natural stone. OK. You see the thing is I don't really care, well I do, but MB will inevitable, do whatever it is he wants to do. If I happen to disagree it will just mean he'll puff up like a blow fish and pout until I go "fine do whatever you want" and then he's happy. The thing is, even though he's going to do whatever he wants, somehow, I have to be involved in the process. It's a lovely gesture but purely for show and the purpose behind it is beyond me. I say "I don't care". He says, "tell me what you want". I tell him. He disagrees. I throw my hands up in the air and say "why did you ask me then!?" He doesn't know. This is how many thing are accomplished in this house. It's certainly not mean or combative but rather funny. You should see us, on the rare occasion that we eat out, trying to decide where to go and what to eat. It takes HOURS...but I digress.

So here we are looking at stones, or least that's the plan. Last night I was suffering from a kidney infection, NOT in a happy bunny kinda mood if you get my drift and we looked at catalogues but I couldn't even tell you what I saw. So inevitably, this is up to MB, I'll just be there to help out. The major issue with this project now is this: MB has decided to dig out the patio by himself. This, I'd like to point out, is mental. He assumes, with pick and shovel in hand, he will be able to dig our large patio out of the hill in our yard. All by himself. The guy at the stone place concurred with me today (bonus points for HIM). But MB has his mind set and therefore, the madness continues. He has about 3 people offering him heavy machinery that he can borrow but no, it's too much of a hassle and then he owes them. Psh. I'm OK with this though, you know why? I'll be right in the end. :) I want nothing to do with the madness and MB has been informed of that (I'll help laying the stone of course) and I know, when he gets to it, he'll realize he needs the help of large equipment. You should have seen us trying to dig up the small little strip of land next to our walkway for our herb garden. HAH! That was hard enough. Or when MB got it in his head that we needed to move a bush down by one of the trees in our front yard. The hole digging was no easy feat. No I think this is going to be a nightmare but we will just let him find out for himself.

*P.S. that is NOT what our patio will look like I just stole a picture offline :D

Vacation: My Stepford Awakening

So I just returned from a very nice, and very un-restful vacation to visit my sister and my two adorable nephews in North Carolina. I had a great time as I have an awesome, fun family but I'm rather sunburned and I gatta tell you, I MISSED New England! I know this may sound nuts but one of the weirdest things that has now been cemented in my mind is the lack of originality in NC. My other sister lives in Colorado and it is much the same problem there.

What problem you ask? The SAMENESS! For those of you who have not been to either place let me explain; almost all houses are set in developments. And not like the kinds you see here in New England where a bunch of houses go up in a neighborhood that look similar. No, I'm talking they create little 'villages' with everything from schools to grocery stores and hair salons, all in one neighborhood. It's like Stepford and it's creepy. It doesn't seem to bother either of my sisters but it bothers me. Wheres the creativity?! Where's the freedom and sense of adventure when everyone you see, talk to, deal with, are all within a square mile of you?! And yards? Not really. Every house is practically a carbon copy of the next, everything is new and everything is the same. You can't even paint your house the way you want because it has to be within an agreed upon color! My sister doesn't live in a gated community but she might as well. There is a sense of isolation, being cut off from the rest of the state, let alone the world. Perhaps it's just me but I was feeling rather claustrophobic by the time I left.

What does this tell me? Why it tells me I belong firmly planted in New England, yes sir. The lack of separate houses I saw was disturbing to say the lest. Here you have houses in every shape, form and function. Yards and property all look different. You have to put in a little more effort to get where your going, and meet new people, and see what you want to, and DO what you need to but God it's worth it. Now our house is a ranch. There are a million ranches in this country, but it's still DIFFERENT! the plot is different, the set up is different and now the inside is very different. A ranch is a box which use to scare me but it I've learned that it's a creative blessing, a blank canvas that we get to up our unique spin on. It may not look like anything special from the outside, but every day is looks more beautiful and spacious from the inside. Inner beauty is what counts right?!

As you can see I've had an awakening of sorts. Yes vacation meant my weekend was, for the first time in a very long time, NOT spend doing a single thing to the house BUT I gave me a new appreciation for it and I couldn't be more grateful. My sisters have beautiful homes in their own rights but those places are not for me. I want history and creativity, not new and un-inventive.

There has been a development on the house however that has nothing to do with me. MB took a nice little trip up to Maine to fish with his brother and his buddy last weekend but before leaving, took 2 days off and worked on the closets. The built-ins are looking amazing and his closet is almost finished with one clear coat on it already. I'll try to remember to take a picture and post it soon! Also, he had a landscaping buddy come price out the patio he's been dreaming about and give him a price from excavation. I'm excited to see what it's going to look like when he's done!

All and all I'm am SO damn happy to be home! :) I think my next vacation will be spent here, there aren't many other places I'd rather be.